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Politics of redistricting

It’s a census year, and that means the once-every-10-years exercise in gerrymandering known as redistricting is just around the corner. The battle has already begun in the Colorado Legislature, where a bill to re-establish the rules for congressional redistricting is already wending its way through the Capitol. And the political pandering is accompanying it.

Both political parties, members claim, are only interested in protecting the best interests of voters. But members of the opposing party, they say, are only interested in increasing political power.

Oh, spare us.

Republicans didn’t exactly do a bang-up job at congressional redistricting in the past decade. Two legislative attempts to draw districts early in the last decade were struck down, and the districts were ultimately drawn by a Colorado district court.

But they established meaningful priorities for how new districts should be created, which Democrats are now trying to eliminate.

We hope the courts don’t draw the lines this time — that people in both parties can come together to create reasonable districts for the state. But that is a political process, and both parties will be jostling to try to obtain districts perceived as most beneficial to their political futures.